加拿大人也真逗，到美國買衣服，為了偷稅，穿新衣服在身上回國。

Canadian dollar high spurs US shopping sprees

Andrew Clark in New York
Friday September 21, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Bargain-hunting Canadians are hopping over the 49th parallel in their droves for cut-price shopping trips to take advantage of a record high in the foreign exchange strength of the so-called "loonie".

The Canadian dollar, nicknamed after a bird on its coins called the common loon, reached parity this week with its American counterpart for the first time since November 1976.

Early today, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0001 - capping a meteoric rise since 2001, when it was worth just 63 American cents.

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Shopping centres say business from Canadian day trippers is booming. In the New York state border city of Buffalo, visitors' centre spokesman Doug Sitler said: "The parking lots are full of Canadian cars, the hotels are busy. We're really seeing it full blast - it hasn't been like this for a long, long time."

Some Canadians, he said, were leaving behind cast-off wardrobes of clothing. "Some of the Canadians will arrive wearing their oldest clothes and leave them in the parking lots once they've bought new ones. We find all these cardboard boxes of clothes lying around."

This week's half-point cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve proved a catalyst as Canada became a more attractive home for flows of capital from Europe and Asia.

Over a longer period, the Canadian dollar has been fuelled by high prices for oil and natural minerals. The Canadian province of Alberta has oil sands that could yield as many as 175bn barrels of oil which, experts say, mean the country is second only to Saudi Arabia in crude oil reserves.

Jeff Rubin, chief economist at Toronto-based CIBC World Markets, said America's traditional strengths in technology are increasingly being ceded to emerging markets, while Canada's wealth of natural resources are becoming ever more valuable.

"The Canadian dollar is up so much against the US dollar because it now requires a whole lot more microchips to buy a barrel of oil," said Mr Rubin. "Technology has been arbitraged to places where it can be produced cheapest. Economic value-added has migrated back to where it was once found - under the ground."

Four out of five Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border, making shopping trips easy. Weakness in the US property market has even made houses an affordable prospect. Mr Rubin said: "I wouldn't be surprised if we started to see lots of Canadians buying US real estate."

The news is bad, however, for Canada's tourism industry. For British visitors, Canada has become significantly more expensive. A pound was worth C$2.50 three years ago - but the rate was down to $2.00 yesterday.

The country's manufacturing base is feeling the pain. Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, told the National Post newspaper that it was a "black day" for a large chunk of the economy, with the consequences likely to be "tragic".

It could even pose a headache for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where costs are in Canadian dollars but international revenue is largely expected to arrive in American currency.

Parity against the greenback led news bulletins across Canada this week - and some say the symbolism has fed into the country's complex relationship with the US.

"It's a little bit of a point of national pride - there's definitely a bit of that," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. "And it's certainly increased Canadians' purchasing power."